The Guard
by ReBirth-Syndrome
Summary: a Security guard finds himself ending up as a merc in order to find away to liberate his former home.
1. The Lucky Bastard

Somewhere, there is someone traversing the wastes. Wounded and tired, the person walked under the hot wasteland sun limping. Sweat ran down his head mixing with the person's still fresh blood. The person was a young male who had naturally tanned skin and stood at 6 feet. His eye's were of a golden color and his hair was an auburn color. He wore khaki combat armor that was badly damaged and was obviously no longer able to provide the protection it once young man held a submachine gun in his left, while his right hand, which was wounded, was left dangling.

"I got to reach...Megaton"he said breathing heavily, unfortunately for the poor man it was a long a distance and he himself might not even reach the city due to the severity of his wounds "Goddamn it...too tired"the way he said it sounded like an indication that he was going to pass out. Indeed,the young man fell face forwad on the baren earth of the capital wasteland, the heat along with his wounds had taken its toll.

Three hours passed and with that passage of time came along a change of scenery for our unconcious friend, who awoke in a cold fright in a worn out bed that was not his own "where the fuck I'm I?"he asked himself as he scanned his was a small scrap shack as he could tell, with a bath tub at the back of the schack and a small square table that at the shack's east side. He examined himself and realised he was no longer wearing his tattered combat armor and that someone bandage up his wounds while the were easily treated with stimpacks, his gun was longer in his possesion as well "...well, this is where I say shit"

Almost half a minute later the scrap house's door opened and in came a man who looked to be in his late 50's, the passage of time had made his hair gray and some wrinkles were apparent on his face. His black shirt was covered by a brown coat which looked like It seen better days, which is more of a surprise as most of the clothing in the wasteland looked like they had seen better years. At the man's waist was a 10. mm pistol, it looked in peak condition. He held a sack in his right hand, it piqued the young mans interest but he focused on the face of the man befor him.

"I see your awake now, good, because I am damn well tired and need some sleep and sense the raiders around these parts seem to be getting more agressive. You'll serve as lookout while I get some much needed sleep" He said in a tired and rather rude voice "Oh, and in case your wondering where your submachine gun is" He tossed the sack at the young man and it landed on his waist "I had to find some parts for it since it looked alot like you when I found you"meaning he looked like shit" Take these too" He handed three clips of submachine gun ammo to the young man, which was obviously a good thing "Your gun already have a full clip which means your set for the whole night. Oh, and your combat armor is unfortunately irrepairable, which is why I had to find you some clothing, so be thankful"he said pulling out some clothes from the sack.

"Thanks, but I cant stay here. I have to reach Megaton"He said getting up and taking the clothes "Tenpenny Tower was taken over, I have to warn them"

The older man looked shocked at what he just heard "Wait, you mean that tower filled with shitty snobs got taken over? what abouts its wall and security?"he asked, he did not really sound concern about what happened to the place, granted since most of the people who live there think they're worth something.

"unfortunately they had stealth boys on them and one of them was able to sneak in when we were attempting to trade with the caravans"he said as he began wearing the clothing given to him "he took out the gaurds at the gate and left it open so his friends would come in, they started killing people left and right,I was lucky to even survive "He gave out a small, fake laugh and looked at the man with regret in his eyes "First day on the job and this happens"

"I gather you were one of the gaurds, boy?" he asked as he saw the young manwas now wearing a white short sleeved short, military patterned cargo pants with it's sleeves tucked into the army boots.

"Yes, I was one of the guys hired to protect the rich snobs"he said as he sat back on the bed again "Now I know they arent worth shit. but god damn it they were people who needed protection"he said as he got back up again "I have to spread the news, Those guys were well trained and they might attack other places as well"

"Well,you'll have to wait till morning. It is dark outside now and its certainly dangerous, while even in the day its dangerous its better to shoot something during the daylight then in the dark"he said as he took of his coat and laid it on the table

"But i have to make it to Megaton now, I..."he said but tehn was suddenly cut off by the older man.

"Please, by morning youll find Three dog has already obtained that info and will make it news of the hour on his next broadcast, everyone, especially the Brotherhood will know about this"he said looking at the young man who looked defeated by the mans arguement"Besides you owe me and I need someone to help keep lookout"

"Sure...I'll keep lookout"he sighed as he strapped the three ammo clips to his waist and held his submachine gun

"Whats your name boy? My name is Cole, Scavenger" Cole said giving a late introduction as he extended his arm for a handsshake

"John" He told him " John Luthor, Former tenpenny security guard"he accepted the he had exited the scrap house and saw a chair, next to the chair he saw a lit lantern, which would help keep watch in this dark knight, and a box. Oppening the box he found some canned food and some alcohole. He smiled a bit then sat down and thus began a long night, a night that was only the first of many other tiresome nights.


	2. Good Morning

John was tired, which was understandable since he was acting as lookout for a scavenger who saved his life. It had been three hours since he started and so far he had spotted no threats 'My god...I knew this was going to be boring but not this boring' He thought to himself. Soon he yawned. He closed his eyes for a bit, hoping that doings so would make time go quicker. Indeed, time did go by quickly, so qucikly that dawn broke out on the horizon. As John slept quietly in his sleep he was awoken suddenly by the sound of a single bullet hitting the sound of metal. Awake and visibly shaken as he jumped out of his chair, it took a few seconds for him to register what was happening before jumping to the said as to avoid the upcoming shot "Well, nap time is over"He said as he lied on the ground holding his submachine gun tightly. from the not so far distance he could see at least three raiders. Their formation was simple, the first of them, who was responsible of nearly killing him, had a hunting rifle, the second had a police baton and it looked like he had a couple of grenades strapped to his waist and the third was simply equipped with a 10. mm pistol.

"Shit, lucky bastard" Said the first raider " The bullet Missed the fucktard Timmy, Toss a grenade before he..."Before he could finish that sentence, John finally remmembered the civil way of dealing with raiders, which was shooting them. The spray of bullets from teh submachine gun flew into the air and at least two of the bullets managed to hit the first raider, one hitting him in the abdomen and the second striking him in the shoulder "SHIIIT, SHIT SHIT SHIT" He repeated loudly as he grasped his shoulder and dropped the gun and kneeled on the ground "TIMMY, THROW THE DAMNED FRAG BEFORE HE SHOOTS AGAIN...NOW"

"Idiot,dont say it too loud..." said timmy, the second raider, as he grabbed a grenade from his waist ,pulled the pin and immediately tossed the grenade at John, who since heard what raider numero uno had said and and immediately took shelter inside Cole's shack and shut the door behind him, after two seconds the grenade exploded. The loud sound caused Cole to wake up in shock as he looked at John who breathed heavily.

"Hey Cole...We have rude guests at the door, about three of them"John said with a nervouse "and how come now you just wake up, i thought the gunshots would certainly wake you up"

Cole sighed as he got up from the bed, obviously the older man was unsurprised by the situation "you said one of them had grenades right?"he put on his coat and gave his 10. mm a quick glance and checked the ammo clip if it was full "Anything special about the other two?"he asked John, who was surprised by the mans calmness

"Uh...well, one of them has a hunting a rifle but is now on the ground and pain, the other has a 10. mm pistol and still standing"John said ashe could hear the sound of bullets hitting the scrap shack "I think the one with the 10. mm is shooting"he said trying tow figure out why Cole was so confident

"I see, is there a reason why your hiding behind the door rather than shooting their asses? Nevermind, step aside and open the door"Cole said as he raised his pistol

"Are you crazy? they might throw another grenade"he said protestingly as Cole approached him

"Shut the hell up and open the door, or do you want your head to breath from a new hole? "John, being intimidated by Cole's threat, stepped aside and opened the door, as soon as he stepped out he aimed his pistol at Timmy who was preparimg to throw his second grenade. With a single pull of the trigger from Cole's 10. mm , the single bullet flew in the air heading straight to its target...Timmy's grenade, before it would collide with Timmy's grenade, Timmy had two thoughts in his head 'How the fuck?' was the first one and the second 'Shit'and with that the bullet collided with the grenade in Timmy's had and exploded, causing a gory mess as Timmy's hand was no in peices and shrapnel was now lodged to the deceased mans head, his accomplice with the 10. mm who was utterly shocked at what he just saw ran away, abandoning the one with the hunting rifle.

"POTSHOT YOU ASSHOLE...DONT LEAVE ME LIKE THIS"said the hunting rifle weilding rifle, who is no longer weilding it obviously.

John was very surprised what he just saw "HOW the heck did you do THAT?" he asked "I know they werent that far but how did you shoot the grenade?

Cole just smirked at John" Practice makes perfect, and i had alot of practive in my lifetime" He held his pistol and began to head for the remaining raider who was now whimpering in fear while grasping his wounds "I'd give you a chance to run but..."As expected, he aimed his gun at the wimpering raiders head and shot a bullet, putting the raider out of his misery "John , come here and give me a hand"

"with what?"he asked as he rushed over, still holding his submachine gun

"I told you I was a scavenger, Did I not?"He said to him with a slight grin "were gonna strip them for anything useable and sell some of that"

"Well, okay" He said standing near Cole and after some troublsome few minutes they were done taking everything they can from the corpses "Hey Cole, mind if i keep the police Baton?"

"sure" He said, as he held up a sack containing all the goods "Come on, Now that were awake lets head to megaton" without another word Cole began to walk torwards, John just shrugged and followed, hoping there wont be any similar incidents on the way.  



	3. Bad News Equals Motivation

After repelling an attack by raiders and gathering the loot gained from it, John and Cole had decided to head to megaton but for diffrent reason, John wanted to go to megaton to see if the News of Tenpenny Tower's occupation had reached them , while Cole wanted to go sell the items he took off the raiders. It has been a good a two hours since they began the short journey and thankfully , either due to John's luck or Coles Knowledge of the wastes, it was a safe one. As they approached megatons gates they were greeted by a protectron named deputy Weld, curiously it spoke like a cowboy albeit typical to its programming it only spoke one word at a time.

"Do you think they've heard?" John asked, looking at cole as they entered megaton

"We'll know once we find a radio , and possibly the tension that it may have caused"said Cole, as he directly made his way to cratersides supply with john in toe"Come on, lets sell what we got from the raiders" He stepped into the shop and there he saw Moira behind her counter Listening closely to the music played on GNR's radio frequency and her guard was standing at his usual place.

"Oh, welcome back Cole. I see you got some things to sell"Said Moira optimistically, In all honesty she seemed to be more optimistic since the success of her Survival guide her Optimism skyrocketed, and people who know Moira would say it was already high enough BEFORE she wrote it.

"Guys 'n' gals of the capital wasteland, now I wish I could sugar coat this news for you, I really do."Said three dog as an uneasy feeling lingered in the air "Now you all hear know how I talk about Tenpenny Tower and Its arrogant residents who think there better than everyone ,right? Well, They were still human beings, may they rest in peace. Yesterday at around 4 to 5 P.M. the Tower was attacked by an Unknown and, unfortunately, well armed group of people. According to the reports they wiped out the buildings whole security force within an hour and claimed the place as their own. No word about what happened to those residing in the tower, except for Tenpenny himself whose body was found near a building not far from the tower."By now the tension intensified as John found himself tighning his fists, he tightened them so hard the blood began to drop from it "It gets worse here Kids, Scouts reported seeing more of them around the capital wasteland. Now I know I said this over and over, but kids, Be careful as you travel in the wasteland and make sure everything you got is in good condition...We may have another incident , like with the Enclave two years ago, on our hands. This was three dog speaking with you"After that the broadcast ended and music began to pla from the radio.

"God...DAMNIT" John was frustrated, He didn't realise everything became this bad since he was able to escape "I got to go back there Cole, I got to help them"

"You can't possibly go back now , especially not alone, you barely escaped with your life. they would murder you "Said cole as he turned to face John, he could see how disturbed John was by what he heard "Plus your ill equipped and dont have the caps to buy proper equipment" Cole wished he would go too really, he wanted to know who they are and what there capable enough, and more importantly can the Brotherhood of Steel handle them? "Listen, I doubt the brotherhood would let this situation continue and will likely plan a course of attack to wipe out those assholes and save the people of Tenpenny tower"

"I know, it's just... I feel responsible"John said with regret in his voice and walked out of craterside supply and looked outside, he saw a bunch of people listening to a man who was preaching about Atom or something and was standing right next to the atomic bomb which was defused two years ago.

Cole stood behind John, the older man understood how the boy felt, he really did "Listen, if you want to save those people at Tenpenny then I wont stop you, but all I request of you is to plan things carefully"He said putting a hand on the young mans shoulder "You cant do this alone, you need help, you need guns and armor,a shit load of skill and alot of luck, and you look like you got alot of luck"

John turned around to look at cole , with determination in his eyes he said "Will you help me cole?"He asked him "In all honesty I only met you yesterday, you saved me when most would leave me dead ,fixed my gun, gave me ammo for it and gave me food. I owe you my life."

cole chuckled "You reminded me of someone I knew, I felt like I needed to save you"he smiled and began to walk to Moriarty's saloon "come on, if were gonna do this we got some long planing to do"

John gave out a small grin "sounds good, Cole. But wont it be too crowded at the bar if everyone has heard the news? "he asked, he imagined how tense everyone would be if they have heard, he could spot half a dozen people already heading there

"True, but we aren't going to plan there. I just wanted a cold one before we rack our brains"he chuckled as he heard John sigh, this day may get longer than expected.

Hey folks, I hope you guys are enjoying what I am writing so far and hope to have your support to continue to write more chapters.


	4. An Overly Used Idea

At Moriarity's saloon there was, obviously, a tense atmosphere due to the the unfortunate news of Tenpenny Tower's occupation by an unknown force. Cole and John sat on a table in the corner,, drinking abit of alcohol. John looked surveyed the bar, he saw a bunch of tough looking characters and gathered they might be mercs or just wastelanders who survived more then their fair shares of near death encounters, Cole however, was busy formulating a plan on how to get the help and caps required to aid in liberating Tenpenny Tower for it's unwanted 'guests'.

"John, I got an idea"said cole as John turned to pay attention "Were going to Form a mercenary group"

"A mercenary group?Why?"John asked, he also wanted to ask how, considering the fact they might not have the resources to start one.

"Because, its the best way to enlist people for help and earn the caps needed to buy the equipment" Cole said with a smirk "It will be just the two of us at first, but I assure we will grow bigger and richer if we do things right".

"I don't know Cole, do you think I'm up for the task?" Sure, John was good with a gun and was alot better at close range fighting, but being a merc meant he would be facing alot more danger then he intended.

"hey, when I patched you up I saw that you had good physique. I didn't see you much in action but we will find out soon enough" Chuckled cole "Anyway, it is obvious we wont start right away considering that we need better equipment then what we already have".

"What do you suggest?"John asked "Scavenge some stuff to sell? I doubt well find anything useful in junk to sell".

"I know, that's why we'll scavenge from raider corpses"Cole said wtih a bit of a sadistic grin on his face.

John did not believe what he just heard "Your not saying were gonna kill raiders just for their gear...Isn't that a bit cruel?'.

Cole just chuckled as if he heard a joke "John, dear boy, your too innocent for your own good. We would be doing the wasteland a favour by killing the raiders, after all what were gonna do to the is the same thing they do to everyone else"he said placing his hand on his shoulder.

"I guess your right Cole, but where are we gonna find raiders?I mean sure there easy to encounter,but I don't know much about finding where they camp" John said as he suddenly earned an odd stare from Cole

"your kidding me, aren't you boy?Raiders are more easier to find then a pack of Brahmin" Indeed, some raider hideouts can be spotted easily if one Pays attention to the obvious Anarchy symbols they decorate the outside of buildings, when inside a building one would most likely find mutilated corpses hanging from bloody chains or tied to beds that indicates their presence in the area "Honestly, I don't know how you lasted this long in the wastes not knowing this obvious bit of wasteland knowledge, John M'boy."

"Guess my luck is the one to thank for letting me last this long" He sighed at the prospect, despite his time in thewastes he was still ignorant of some of its most simple aspects "But are you sure about doing this, neither you and I have much experience being mer-"

"Before you finish that sentence, I will have you know I was a merc before I retired and became a scavenger, and getting out of retirement is a refreshing thing because, other than those half assed raiders and some pitiful dogs and molerats, I don't get much action"Said cole, silencing JOhn as he pulled out his 10. mm and began another quick inspection of it he said "Now, I suggest you head to Craterside supply and get yourself something that offers more protection than what your wearing, even if raiders are too stupid a fight,doesnt mean they wont be able to kill you"

"I would if I could, but I don't have caps on me"He said looking down at the ground, suddenly Cole grabbed his hand and placed 40 caps and pointed at the door, John didnt need to ask what he meant by that.

Cole grumbled as he John left the bar "I'm getting soft"Is all he said as he continued inspecting his pistol. after about half an hour John returned wearing what looked like a bulletproof vest, the same type that vault security uniforms have except the number that indicated which vault was painted over , which earned a curious look and grin"Any particular reason you chose such a thing? I would have chosen leather armor, unless your too committed to being a security guard"

"ha ha, not funny"said John as he pulled out a 10 .mm pistol and placed it on the table, it looked to be in working condition but Cole could tell that it would need repairing soon. John sat down and and rested his arms on the table "That Moira woman is too optimistic" he said witha hint of annoyance "At least her wares are good..."

"Moira tends to unintentionally get on peoples nerves, she means well "Cole said smirking somewhat, when he first met Moira he wanted to strangle her, now he had grown accustomed to he quirks "I'm surprised you had enough to buy both the vest and pistol"

"My father was a merchant, so I learned a thing or two about haggling with traders"He said "Of course I had to sacrifice one of the SMG Mags so i could have two pistol clips, all in all a good trade"he smiled as he placed he holstered the pistol on his right thigh "I wonder where she got this bullet proof vest though, I thought only vaults had these"

"They still do, if i remember correctly,about 6 months ago Moira told me that scouts from Vault 101 came across a crate inside an abandoned building that had been recently abandoned by mercenaries, it contained enough combat armor to outfit the vaults entire security force, so they traded some of their old armor for supplies. The Vests sell frequently but Moira still has a lot of them"Cole said as he muse about how lucky Vault 101 was, he doubted that they just found them but he was wrong before, and if he was he wondered how could a bunch of mercs just forget about a crate of combat armor they had?

"Interesting"John said as he checked his gear, making sure he didn't miss anything"so when do we head out to hunt for raiders?"

"Now" Cole said as he suddenly got up and headed for the door "Hurry up, Security boy. We're burning daylight "

"So sudden" John thought, he was surprised at Cole for being so quick about getting things done 'wonder why he didn't ask why i was late' he thought but shrugged as he quickly ran after Cole who showed no signs of slowing down, Hopefully nothing bad will happen during this 'raider hunt'

* * *

Not very interesting, I know. The next chapter will be better.

Please review, I am curious about everyone's thoughts.


	5. Craptacular, Just Craptacular

right now it was the middle in the afternoon in the wasteland, now matter what time it was, during the day the wasteland was Capital F-UCKING HOT, Dusty and just plain annoying. At the ruined town that was once called Springvale was a half destroyed school inhabitted by raiders, Kinda ironic since most raiders dont bother learning anything. A few years before, the one known as the Lone Wanderer had irradicated the school of its previous tennants, yet as time passed on,in came new tennants who were very much the same as their predecessors. The school's ruined prtion, which was connected to the still very intact main section of the school, was used as a sort of lookout for the raiders whenever they spotted unwanted visitiors...or prey to hunt.

The raiders were to be prey for our two heroes, John and Cole. With Coles Idealogy that selling raider equipment guranteeing a profitable way of gaining alot of caps, of course, to hunt for the lions in their own resting place is like asking to be killed quickly, John knew this and Cole certainly did know. As the two men marched their way to the school, they made sure to stick to the schools east side, not wanting to attract attention of the guys keeping watch from the schools ruined side.

As they stood near the corner where the school's entrance was, John asked "So, whats the plan Cole?"

"Its real simple John, Just go in there real quiet and find a safe spot to hide"he said with a crafty smile, holding his 10. mm pistol in his hand

"hide? what good will that do?"John asked with a worried look on his face, for some reason Cole's smile scared him a little, the way he said it implied that John was going inside alone, which obviously made John more worried.

"Go, now."he commanded, his smile turning into a bit of a scowl, In Cole's head the plan would definently work "You'll know what to do next, dont worry"

John gulped, a little bit scared, He had experiance tangling with Raiders but didnt expect he would go inside one of their own hideouts, as he moved about the corner and ,as quietly as he could, approached the school's main entrance 'Why the hell couldn't I be rescued by some sweet little old lady?I know they still exist somewhere' he thought, clearly he didnt feel like going inside alone, but if he didn't go hed have to suffer the intimidating stares of Cole. As he entered quietyl the first thing he noticed was a large cage hanging in the centre of the room, inside it was skeleteons of dead wastelanders, he didn't know how long it had been there but he didnt aim to find out, he also noted the mutilated bodies that were suspended from the walls by chains Damn, raiders are messed up' Giving the room a quick surveilance he could see three paths he could take, the three paths did not seemed no diffrent from one another, but one of them could lead to a raider who bothered patroling the halls, which would mean trouble 'Well, whichever ago there might be trouble' He thought as he randomly chose the right path, he slowly opened the door and noticed that there was a path that led to a door to to what was a classroom, from the distance he could tell that it acted as a resting place for the raiders since there were some worn out beds the end of the path there was also a corner that led left to, persumebly, more rooms, he quietly crept closer to the corner and looked around to see that there was a raider patroling the path, The raider was giving his back to John, which meant he did not realise someone else was there. Knowing that once the raider reaches the end of that path he would just turn around and end up spotting him, John just torwards the classrom, rolling forward as he did so, he was able to evade the raider's eyes just in time before he turned around to patrol the hall yet again.

'Okay, so far so good, now...is there anywhere in this room where I could hide' John thuught to himself as he surveyed the for him there was no sleeping raider in the room, now he just needed to find a proper place to hide, unfortuantely there was no fullproof hiding spot, the only spot that was worth hiding under was the a teacher's desk,which had a wooden board set up on the desks other side, and still he would most likely be found hiding underthere, considering that there was some drugs placed on the desk 'Better than nothing' John moved silently torwards the desk and hid under it 'Since I'll most likey get found sooner or later...' he unholstered his Submachinge gun ad pistol, making sure both had a full magazine, he knew he should have done so before entering, but whats a guy to do? John wanted ot escape the frightning glare of Cole and so he went in forgetting to do that.

After a few minutes of hiding, John could hear the foot steps of someone entering the room, the footsteps grew louder and louder as they approached the teacher's desk 'Crap'John thought, Holding his pistol tightly in one hand, hoping he wouldnts get found out

"HEY" A raider shouted as they entered the room, making John's heart skip a beat, terrified "Some bastard just took out three of our Boys, come on"the raider said in an alarming tone,as if he just witnessed a demon in action, the two raiders left the room as the sound of their footsteps rapidly faded, making John sigh in releif 'So close' he said as he got up from under the desk, Cole said John would know what he could do from here but John thought 'What could I possibly do from here?' He thought, Cole just told him to go in and hide while Cole himself drew attention...'Thats it' John suddenly knew what to, it was simple, with Cole drawing there attention, this left the raiders back turned and thus easy targets to be taken down by John. John grinned as he silently praised Cole's plan in his head, he grabbed hold of his police baton and extended its rather painful rod, he left the room and took the path to his right, noting that the raider who patroled it was no longer at his post, he noted that there was a door to another classroom, he crept closer and glanced through the door as he spotted a raider sleeping on a matress set in the room 'Taking things easy,aren't you?' As he slowly crept inside with his polic baton extended, he made his way to the sleeping raider 'I guess its better than seeing it coming' He raised the baton in the air and swung it down on the raider's neck with full force , with the sound of a bone shattering crack he knew the deed was done 'Too bad tho, you dont know who killed you' he thought, it was everyones right to know who killed them, even if they didn't want to die.

Exiting the room and went to the path that layed infront of him, he heard the voice of some raiders that were up some stairs.

"Damn it, The bastards playing us for shitheads'said the first raider, his voice tense and scared "How come he isn't coming inside to deal with us? he alread took out of 5 of us"he almost shouted, his voice becoming hysterical

"Calm down you Idiot, listen, go wake up Stooge then get everyone from the basement, were gonna go full force on this fucker" said the other, more calm, raider. the first raider obbliged as John heard footsteps coming down the stairs, John quickly decided to hide behind the wall that was besides the stairs, watching the nervous raider as he walked past, unaware of Johns existance .

'Crap, Stooge must be the sleeping ugly I just killed' He thought as he decided to follow the nervouse raider before he attempts to wake the dead, he would have to walk quickly , risking to make more noise and alerting his precense to the raider. As John moved quickly behind teh raider with baton in hand, he prepared to strike the raider in the back of his head, What John was hoping that wouldnt happen, happened, the raider turned around with a sawed off shotgun pointed at Johns face "uh...crap" JOhn said.

"I knew it, the bastard couldn't have come alone if he's just sitting out there, like he's waitin'for somethin'"The raider said, the tension he felt now subsidede and was replaced by a wicked grin "Oh, your gonna be a good hostage. Now throw the baton near me, and all your guns too"

"Fine"John said, He tossed the baton at the raider and noticed tha raider's eyes shifted to watching the baton as it was about to hit the ground near him, using that single moment, John pulled out his pistol and fired a couple of rounds,one striking the raider in his skull and the other simply grazing his cheek ' I didn't hink that would work, I must be lucky' John thought as he sighed in releif and quickly retreived his baton from the ground near the raider's corpse.

"HEY, WHAT'S WITH THE FUCKING RACKET" shouted a rude voice coming from the stairs leading to the school's lower level.

'Or maybe I'm not so lucky after all'John then hurried behind a corner and and saw that a couple of raiders Brandishing assault rifles coming from the doorway that lead downastairs, one was a man in his 30s and the other was a female in her late teen's, not a second later they were accompanied by another raider who came down from upstairs, this one was...mysterious looking. He wore a modified radiation suit which had it's Helpet replaced by a fire man's helmet equipped with a gas mask, the suit also had pieces of metal fitted on the chest and shoulders,acting as a much more eficent armor compared to his friends. What was most dangerous about this raider, however, was his choice of weapon, an M60 LMG 'oh Fucking Craptacular, Really? If cole was dealing with this sort of guy, he is gonna have to tell me how he treated these guys like fucktards'

"Someone took out Wreck"Said the male raider, who received a look that said 'No shit, asswipe' from the female raider

"Find him, he must be close by" commanded the armored clad raider, the other two complied Immediately, which gave John the impression he might be the boss, as one raider head one root, the other headed to where John was hiding, their leader just stood his place with his M60 raised.

John then moved away from the corner, trying to hide besides a locker so as not to be spotted by the female raider, he knew once she passed by he would be found, So he held his baton in his right hand while his pistol was in his left, as she passed by he immediately struck the female raider in the head, as she fell to floor and dropped her assuat rifle. John immediately moved to the assualt rifle and kicked it away as to prevent the female raider from attempting to reach it, he then pointed his pistol at her and quietly said "Don't move" John thought that using her as a hostage will get them to surrender so he approached her ,grabbed her arm,making her stand up and pointed his gun at her head "Please dont resist, I will shoot you if you do"

"Shit" said the female raider to herself, she was caucasian,stood at 5'7" and had her hair in a bob cut, her skin was notably dirty. Her attire was something common for a raider, she wore a sleevless tanktop and torn military pants. A scrap of armor covered her left shoulder. She was obviously pissed at her situation.

John kept her in front of him as they moved and stood a good distance from the M60-weilding raider " I see you have been captured by one of our asstackers,Lil"He said, his face pbscured by the gasmask attached to his helmet. John could not tell if he was pissed or just did not care that JOhn had his friend hostage

"Listen, If you want her alive then I demand you drop your weapon or else I..."Before John could finish that sentence he found that the M60-weilding raid pointed his gun at John and the raiders finger was slowly moving to it's trigger "shit"he said letting the female raider go and jumped behind the corner, the female raider followed in two as a barrage of bullets flew in the air 'I was stupid to think that would work...'he Thought as he holstered his pistol and tookout his Submachine gun

'DAMN IT, ZACK. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING YOU SHITHEAD"Shouted Lil as she moved to retreive her assault rifle

"You got yourself taken hostage, I find that weak, so I decided to cut out the weakness"Said the M60-weilding raider, now identified as Zack "You know how these things go, Lil. Anything to win" He slowly moved torwards their location, his gun still raised and ready to give its victims new holes to breath from

"Fuck you Zack"She said as she then looked at John "I'll deal with you later asswipe"She moved away from the corner and headed to where the school her way she saw the other raider that was with her, without hesitation she emptied the assualt rifles entire magazine on the poor guy.

John was now alone with Zack, who was taking his sweet time walking to that corner 'Oh what the fuck is Cole doing? He can not still be out there?' John thought, He decided to make use of the retractable stock that was built into his submachine gun, he moved closer to the corner and noted that zack was still far from the corner 'Better now than never' He said as he jumped out of cover and fired a burst of bullets at Zack, Unfortunate for John was that while his aim was good, the areas hit by the bullets where the sheilded parts of zacks body,the metal absorming the damage the bullets while slightly being bent from the impact.

"Nice try"Zack then fired off another barrage of bullets, causing John to quickly jump behind the corner, Zack moved forward as his gun continued giving suppresive fire and soon the current ammo box ran out, Zack payed no heed to this as he reached the corner. Zack simply dropped the gun as John jumped out of hte corner preparing to fire another round of submachine gun fire, but instead John was caught by the neck and thrown at a bunch of lockers "You and your friend messed with the wrong individual"

John painfully lied on the ground, his back aching "You dont...sound too angry"he saidas he pulled out his pistol, only for it to be kiced from his hand and his chest was stomped on by Zack's foot.

"Indeed, I actually found it amusing. I thought this was going to be a boring mission" He said, as he stepped on John harder "Heh, I probably should not have said that, but what does it matter? I already completed the objective"

"Ob...Objective"John breathed heavily as he found himself to tired and battered to move "Ar-arent you a raider?"

Zack chuckled at what John said "I am not, I only acted like one for the past month as part of my recon mission. My supperiors thought it would be best if I took the guise of a raider as to not raise suspicions, I find it rather foolish really, they shoud have let me do my mission under the guise of a mercenary or at least as myself. Its not this was before the great war and I am a spy"Zack then removed his foor from Johns chest and then kicked John's side "Tomorrow I just need to head for tenpenny tower to report and get out of this useless garb"

John could not beleive what he hearing, this man was part of the group that too over Tenpenny Tower, only a day after it happened and already he meets one of them. If he could he would take this guy down but now he was at his mercy.

"I beleive it is time to put you to sleep like the mongrel you are"He said as he went to pick up Johns pistol "I beleive your pistol would do the job nicely, I would rather not spend the next minute loading my machine gun. Time is of the essence after all"He pointed the Pistol at john "Any last words?"

"I'm afraid he doesnt have any last words, you neandrathal"Said a familiar voice, zack turned his hed to see who it was, only to see thatit was cole who fired off pistol rounds, one stricked zack in the hand, making him drop John's pistol and the other bullet striked him in the left knee ,causing him to kneel on the ground "Sorry I took so long, when I was handling the goons upstairs I didnt realise their head honcho was downstairs" Cole, his gun still pointed at Zack, looked at John 'Hows the ground feel, John?'

"Fuck...you" was all John said

"No need for insults John, I'm here now" Cole said as he now turned his head to Zack "so, any last words from you?" the only thing he received from the man was the middle finger, after which Cole promptly shot Zack multiple times until Zack dropped dead. Cole hurried to John and kneeled beside him "Sooo... any serious damage?"

"Multiple bruises...and a cracked rib I think"John said as he was being helpud up by John

"You can walk it off, doc church will have to check that rib tho"cole said, this had been a troublesome experiance for John, he only wished that Cole had let zack alive as to extract information on who were the people occupying the tower, knowing your enemy's name would at least give an Idea who they were.

After John and Cole returnedto Megaton, they met with doc Church and John was releived that nothing was broken and he only need a few hours rest. As John rested , Cole returned to the school and gathered the weaponry from the raider corpses and sold them for a good profit once he returned, for two weeks every three days they had repeated the process of hunting down raiders and selling off their equipment, making enough profit for Cole to decide to Begin with the next step, finding some people with enough battle experiance to be called mercs. Let us hope they do find someone like that, shall we? 


	6. They work fast

Sorry for the long delay, I was busy with real life and suffered from a bit of writers block

* * *

The DC wasteland's Brotherhood of Steel, the most powerful and high tech faction amongst the DC wasteland. Originally part of the the original Brotherhood from out west, whose mission and goal was to procure advanced technology as to preserve Humanity's progress and the DC Brotherhood originally planned to keep true to this goal as the scoured the DC Wasteland, until there elder, Owyn Lyons, Found how important they had become to the people of DC, as when they fist arrive they found the remains of Washington DC being overrun by the brutish super mutants, and so they took action against the hulking brutes and slayed everyone they could find, although it did little to dwindle the mutants seemingly endless numbers, their presence in the ruins of the city dwindled and made it a bit more easier to traverse and also helped the Dc wastelands people rest a little easier, growing thankful of the DC Brotherhoods efforts, this had touched their elder's heart as he now found himself and the majority of his Brotherhood fighting for the Citizens well-being, this had eventually caused them to lose support from the original brotherhood, while they recognize Lyon's as elder, they have cut off all contact with them, and those who did not agree with their elder's new purpose in life, have deserted and became what was now known as the outcasts who continued the original brotherhoods goal.

It was a dark time for the elder, but in the end elder Lyons was able , just barely, to make due by recruiting the locals of the DC wasteland, most being inexperienced or too eager and thus were the quickest to die. When the Enclave made their precense known in the wasteland and threatened the DC wasteland by taking over project purity, which was located inside the Jefferson memorial, the Brotherhood bravely fought against them and were able to take back Project Purity thanks to the aid of the Lone wanderer, whose father was one of the founders and head scientist of Project Purity, and they achieved Major victory against the enclave by destroying their Moving fortress at Adams Airbase and used it the area as another Headquarters and received a large flux of advanced of technology due to their victory.

Inside the Citadel, formerly known as the pentagon, inside The great-hall gathered the highest ranking members of the DC wasteland's Brotherhood. Elder Lyons, who was now nearing his 80's, was an old man with a bald head, his face had many wrinkles and a white beard that clearly reflects his age, his green eyes however showed a defiance to his age yet still had a lifetime supply of wisdom. He wore a blue robe that signified his position as elder and leader of the DC Wasteland's Brotherhood "I believe you all know why I have summoned you all here?" The elder said inquisitivly as he sat at the end of the large meeting table, his old voice showing much wisdom and power.

"Does it involve the secretive group who took over Tenpenny Tower?" Said Sarah Lyons, the only daughter of the Elder, she was a beautiful women in her early thirties, because she usually had her power armor on her skin appeared to be somewhat pale. Her blond her was set in a small pony tail and her eyes where green like her powers and showed the same defiant as her father "It's been two weeks since they have occupied the Tower, and so far the only thing they did was set up an unsuspected defence" she said feeling annoyed as she remembered what she had read in a report concerning them " They set up four automated Gattling Turret around the building, anyone who goes near it will get torn to shreds by these and they dont only focus on whats on the ground but even our Vertibirds in the sky, one of them was almost shot down when they inadvertly got into their range of fire"

"Indeed, the damage caused by their Defences were surprisingly dangerous, me and and the others had our work cut out for us, though I do admit enjoying repairing the Machine. But, seriously speaking, I do not beleive we will be able to launch an assualt on them anytime soon until these Gattling turrets are dealt with one way or the other" Said scribe Rothschild, Elder Lyons' closest friend and the Head scribe of the Brotherood, he had a balding head and wore the scribes traditional red robes, no one in the brotherhood could match his intelligence.

Elder Lyons nodded to the words of his most trusting subjectss and closest, dearest freinds "At least we have an Insight on what possible power they hold, after all, an Unknown enemy is the worst imaginable, best to fight in the the light then fighting in total darkness" Said the Elder as he contemplated the situation, he knew despite what he said, that they were still an unknown enemy.

" Father, what do we do? If we dont act quick we might have another Incident akin to that of the Enclave" Sarah, said she also feared for the well being of those 'Rich Snob' of it Tenpenny residents, as a certain friend put it.

Elder Lyons Nodded agreeing with his daughter's words,but knew they could do nothing at the only thing they could do was wait until their enemy had done another action that would reveal more of themselves , and he doubt they could get close enough to the tower without facing a bloody death by the hands of those turrets" I share your sentiments Sarah, but we can only wait. As it is, this mysterious group is still a large mystery, we dont know what their motives are, how many they are or even their names, and who knows what other defenses they may have"

Sarah was disgruntled by this fact, she knew her father was right but she still wished to do something. A few moments later entered a scribe holding a document, a report to be exact, and whispered something in elder Lyons' ear then placed the document on the table. Quickly elder Lyons examined what was written in the report with widened eyes. Sarah watched as her father's face slowly filled with distress "Father? whats wrong"

"Talon company has waged a fullout war on the Outcasts' base of fort Independence two days ago" said elder Lyons as he continued reading through the report, a look of surprise came on scribe rothchild and Sarah Lyons' face " Why in heavens name would they do that?." The Elder asked himself aloud

"Their timings too close to when the Occupants arrived. You dont think..."

" That they were hired by the Occupants to take out the Outcasts? It is certainly possible" Said elder Lyons as he finished up scribe Rothchilds words "While I know our former bretehren are well equipped with Power Armor, laser weaponry and make use of Robots to make up for their low numbers ,I fear that it may not be enough for them to survive this war for"

"It serves them right tho. their dessertion is nothing less then traitorous" said sarah angrily, sure Cadin, the leader of the outcasts, was once like an uncle to her but she could never forget what he called her father and his dessertion has caused man problems for the brotherhood

" Now Sarah, this is not the time to show anger at our former brethren" said the elder calmly, he did not hate the outcasts and wished they had stayed with the brotherhood,unfortunately he knew he could not help them, the Outcasts would never accept aid from them, nor would the Brotherhood soldiers wish to. After all their views clashed and none was willing to put the past behind " Unfortunately we can do nothing, only watch how things playout"

Sarah and Scribe rothchild both nodded, as the meeting ended Sarah could only wonder what dark times lay ahead as she wandered back to the Den, her squads personal quaters, Ever since they Kicked the Enclave's asses she had been traininng herself even harder then her usual schedule, just in case another incident occured. She wished the Occupants would make their move tho, if they were the ones who hired Talon Company to Wage war with the outcasts then it shows that they have a large monetary influence. It also made her think that they were cowards who let others do their dirty work for them.

"Hey Sarah, why the long face" Said a man in Mettalic grey combat armor, He was about Sarah's age, he was an asian man with Dark hair which was cut into a standrad military style, his eyes were brown and gave off a wild determination. He stood at about 5"55' in height and his body was that of a pre-war Olympic-leve athlete, something the brotherhood strives to acheive with all of its members. Strapped to his right thigh was a pistol and hanging from his back was an assualt rifle.

"Hello Knight Jacobs, So what brings you to the Lyons' Den?" Asked sarah, She knew Jacobs for five years since he Joined up with the Brotherhood, he was once a merc and for that he did not require much training as most of the initiates since the time he joined, he still referred to the training as hell tho. He was one of the Members who preferred to wear Combat armor over Power armor, since Combat armor ,as he put it ' Made me feel more free and stuff as opposed to that Mechanized suit' Sarah understood how he felt, the Combat armor gave more freedon of movement and felixbility while the Power armor offered much more protection and gave a boost to strength, while at cost of speed. Jacobs was also part of the Brotherhood's newest unit,King's Shadow. They valued speed and stealth overall and thus didn't wear power armor, instead wearing the brotherhoods advanced combat armor, which offered more protection and sacrificed nothing of speed. King's Shadow's primary function was acting as the Brotherhood's silent assailents, where they were tasked with missions that requiered them to move gracefully and silently, to kill the foe without raising too much such they did not handle supermutants as much as the Pride

"Was bored and thought I'd talk with Knight captain Gallows" He said with a grin, Knight captain Gallows was a member of the Pride, Known for going on some ' spec ops' even when the Pride has some R&R. Jacobs admired Gallows because he could move quietly in Power armor, so quiet thats like he wasnt even wearing anytime of armor, this made Jacobs call him by his proper ran unlike with the rest of us, excluding the Elder of course" Of course he is not here" he sighed

"Well Jacobs, as long as your here. Do you know.."

" About Talon starting a war with the Outcasts? 'course I know, I'm the one who brought in the report from when I was asked to make Tabs on 'em" He Interrupted with a sly grin " But I think you guessed that"

Sarah raised an eyebrow at Jacobs " yes, well...do you know the reason why they started this?"

" I don't, but you guys must have realised that it is too close with you know who's arrival, so I can only guess..." he said as he reseted his arms on the table " that they were hired, Though I can't see why they would hire them considering they stormed Tenpenny Tower so easy, despite not having the highest defences, the mercs there were top notch" he said as he stared at the ceiling " whatever their planning, it can't be good"

Sarah nodded at what he said " so how long do you think it will last? The war I mean" She asked, personally she thought it might last a month, but in this case the outcasts were like cornered beasts so it might last longer

" I give it half a year, no more, no less" Jacobs said, Sarah knew that he was probably right, but 6 months seemed to be pushingit" From what I know the outcast's used to be one of us, and since they were once brotherhood that means they got our stubborn will to never falter, and being pushed on the defence is just what will show that stubbornness"he said with a grin " Heck, the outcome of this war is pretty clear to me, they ain't gonna lose"

Sarah listened closely to his words, dispite Jacobs originally being a merc, he was an example to be looked up to in the brotherhood "so why do you think they will win?"

" 'cause there stubborn bastards, I already told you that. sure the Talon mercs heavily outnumber 'em, and their training is nothing to laugh at, but their kids compared to what the Outcast's go through" he smiled, thinking of how many times he spied on the outcasts " Almost every day their main base of operations was attacked by raiders, they send out small patrols to some of the most dangerous places in this wasteland, and most of 'em come back alive, I got to respect them for that"

Sarah just grinned and smiled to herself " You got a point, I still hate the Outcasts, but if they lose to assholes like Talon, then their not even worth hating" she said as she went to take a drink of fresh water from the fridge. She had a reason now to wish for the Outcasts to win this war, they may be Traitors, but they Carry the skills and pride of the brotherhood, them losing this war would insult all of the brotherhood.

Meanwhile, just outside the gates of megaton, Cole and John stood infront of three people. John was nervous about this, Cole, however, obviously wasn't, they had recruited three people for a job to help protect Bigtown as it begins to expand itself, and they were hiring mercs to help defend the town due to possible risks of being attacked during its expansion. In Cole's mind, it would be be a good test for the three he and John chose. John however was hesitant as they were taking a job that was definitely high profile and might lead to some serious trouble as it was unknown if they would be able to work as a team

First of the three was a young Caucasian woman ,about 19 of age, she was just as tall as John. She he had long wild black hair that was matched by her Fiery red eyes. she wore the traditional one sleeved leather armor. Around her neck were dogtags that had the names on 'em scratched. Cole found her in Moriarty's bar after she beat up a guy and his friends for trying to pick her up, he noted that she herself did not get hurt. on her right thigh was a pistol, strapped to her waist was twin combat knives, while over her armor she wore a vest that held about 15 throwing it one could tell she is more skilled with melee and throwing weapons, her slim and nimble looking figure also reveals how agile she is. Her name was Isabel Demonio.

the second was a 35 year-old Asian man, he looked ten-years older than that really. His hair was cut in a military stle with a few strands of white eyes were blue and reflected a firm determination . He wore a thick looking leather armor with two long sleeves, he also wore strange gloves that had metal platings on the knuckle and backhand portions. He had a heavy set build and was standing at 6'5" and his preferred weapon was a minigun which he held on to tightly,despite Its heaviness and the added weight from the Ammo pack he carried, it was unable to make the man a doubt he was a heavy weapons specialist. His Name was Gunung. John had known him for him two weeks and met him at the Brass Lantern.

the last was a 24 year-old Caucasian man. He had long blond hair and wore it in a ponytail, He had green eyes that gave off an air of superiority and stood at 5'45". He wore combat armor with the usual military pattern camo that seemed to be fading. His choice of weapon was a chinese assault rifle, the Mag currently inserted had another mag attached to it and was upside down, obviously becuase after the current mag becomes empty he would simply flip it to the second on. there were other such magazines connected to his waist, His side arm was a which was strapped to his right leg and he alslo had a combat knife strapped on his other name was Richard. One of the guy's who was beat up by Isabel

These three were the ones they found when Cole announced it was time to recruit, although John still had many doubts about it, thinking it was too soon and knew that if they decided to recruit more later on that they would need some sort of HQ. Cole looked intensely at the three and they looked back at Cole with disinterested eyes, it only said that they wanted to finish this up soon.

"All right, Everyone looks ready. Now like we agreed, I'm team leader in this mission. I don't Fucking care if you still got qualms about it" he eyed Isabel and Richard " Once we reach Bigtown, were going to seperate into teams and you better not complain else you might get kicked off" he declared, giving off his leadership aura" All right, we're off " Cole then took lead as he marched on the harsh terrain of the wasteland, followed by cole and the possible recruits

'why the hell is she glaring at me?she's creeping me out" John thought as he followed Cole and Isabel was right behind, giving angry looking glares 'I hope things go smoothly, or at least good. I dont even know why Cole signed us up for such a tough job, wouldn't it be better if we see how compatible we are if we went raider or mutant hunting?' he asked himself, during the time Bigtown's expanding its walls, it will end up being under attack by supermutants, raiders or slavers. the worst being supermutants 'Will everything go okay?' the answer to that will only be seen in the near future, which will only mark as of the many starts of a long, dangerous path.


End file.
